


Head Up, Love

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison is still amazing, Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, I abuse the tags, M/M, Pre-Slash, and of course he gets it because he can't have nice things, but Derek's also in line to be a Marquis, courtier!Derek, prince!stiles, this is not new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-01
Updated: 2013-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-27 18:34:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/665146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh my codpiece!" Stiles exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "I never said you're a challenge! The challenge I was speaking of was the damn Court! Not you! You, Mr. Hale, you're just that ass, according to Scott, who needs some help and some humanity, according to me, and I'm willing to give both of those. I don't think the ass part can be helped, do you? But I have to go! Scott, go drool over Allison or something!" He grinned at Derek, before scampering off, too fluid for a man of his young age.<br/>~<br/>Or, in which Stiles is a prince and Derek becomes a Marquis far too early.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Head Up, Love

**Author's Note:**

> And here we go again. Kate dies quick, and I don't go into the sex with her. Thankfully. She's a great plot motivator, though. Title from Stubborn Love, The Lumineers.

They called her the Red Queen for a reason. Derek could barely remember his mother coming home in tears—he was just five years old. When his father asked the cause of the tears, she wailed, "She's been crowned! Her coronation was this afternoon! Oh, Silas, all I could see was  _red!"_

His mother was a seer. Alienor Hale was not a trifling matter, but she was a Marquisette, and thus beneath the Queen—who everyone seemed to forget her first name. The Queen was just that, no name required. And as time wore on, her  _red_ came to the forefront. Although she had a child, Princess Stella Selene, who everyone called The Rose of Court, and a husband who remained uncrowned and nameless _(our sons are trained to be soldiers, our daughters to be leaders)_ , the Red Queen was a bloody Queen.

Anyone who rebelled or expressed dissent was cruelly silenced, and before long, the kingdom army became one of the largest in the world. Derek's eldest sibling, Edward, went into it when Derek was fifteen, as all firstborn sons were forced too. Alienor came to tears over this, but Edward was jubilant.

"Don't you see, Mam, that I'll be safe? There's no place in the world that will challenge the Red Queen. I'll be coming home safe in a few years," he said as he kissed her on the cheek. When Derek was sixteen, Laura, his oldest sister, became affianced with a boy coming into a suitable amount of land, and his youngest siblings, twins Dmitri and Ellie, went off to school. The kingdom was safe, letters from Edward came often, and the only ruffle in his life was when the heir to the throne, Stella Selene, died, leaving an inconsolable husband and a young son, aged nine. The Red Queen was devastated, and the kingdom went into heavy mourning. Only white, black, and dark red were permitted.

Alienor muttered over this. "Of course her red is still allowed, no rest for the angry dead, just like her blood," she hissed until Derek's father shushed her. _You never know who's listening in the shadows._

That may have been so, when Derek was twenty, he was sent to court by order, to be a courtier for his uncle, Peter Hale—a suitable job for the second-born son. He spent a long, lonely three years there. Finally, the heir, but everyone just called him the Crimson Prince—having become of age—returned from a long journey across kingdoms, and he was called to the throne room with Peter to witness his return.

The Red Queen sat serenely on her throne, grey hair coiled tightly in braids, wrapped around her head, crown perched atop imperiously. Footsteps sounded outside the throne room, as the entire court was silent. Derek looked at the Queen once more, her imperial vermilion robes swaddling her thin figure. Her eyes were shining. _She loves him so much,_ he thought. _There is a heart in the Queen. Just for him alone._

"My Queen Birdie!" the voice came as the doors slammed open, revealing a frightfully thin young man with sharp honey-brown eyes and mussed caramel hair, dressed informally in a gold-buttoned red jacket and burgundy trousers. He was grinning, his eyes matching hers in light. He dashed towards the throne, ignoring propriety. He skirted a slight bow before leaping towards her, murmuring nothings into her ear. She smiled, before looking out among her court.

"Dismissed," she said coldly. The room rose as one, making their way to the door. Derek turned to look at the Crimson Prince. He was startled to find his gaze locked on him. His eyes narrowed instinctively, and the Prince cracked a smile, nodding, before turning back to the Red Queen.

As Derek exited, a hand on his arm made him jump. "Hello there, young courtier," a woman with a too-wide, too-sharp-toothed smile. "I am Katherine Argent, lady of Chasseur. I know who you are, your mother is well-known for her, ahem, _predictions."_ She tugged on Derek's arm, leading him to a secluded corner.

"But I don't think we need to talk now, do we?" she said as she pressed herself against Derek. He looked down at her bosomy chest and slender waist, and shook his head as she grabbed a hand and pushed it into her bodice.

*

Derek fell in love with her. He counted that as his second mistake; the first being carnally knowing her in the first place. The third was the last strike: telling her about his family. Katherine Argent never touched a match, but she sent peasants to do the job for her. Alienor and Silas Hale, Dmitri and Ellie, and _Edward,_ who was home at last, all died. Laura told him, and when she said, "Mam spoke of a girl the day before. 'Katherine,' said she. 'Katherine brings the flames.' Do you know who she is, Derek?"

Derek did.

Katherine had told him mockingly the previous day, "You silly, foolish, _stupid_ man. What did you think? You, a mere second-son of a _Marquis,_ marrying me? Katherine Argent? My god, you _are_ stupid. This was nothing but a good fucking. Did you expect more? Oh, did I break your poor frail heart? Well, let me tell you, Second-Son of the Marquis of Loup, _you don't deserve love._ " She had laced up her stays and buttoned her bodice, then swept out without another word.

Derek had flung himself into his room and stayed there with swollen eyes. Peter had looked at him. "A girl?" He hadn't waited for an answer, and Derek didn't give one. Until the next day.

Peter wrenched himself near Derek and Laura. Laura was now the Marquisette, and with her husband... they would be wealthy. _An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, innocent blood for misbegotten wealth..._ "Who was the girl, Derek? Who was she! Tell me!"

"Katherine," Derek said in a hoarse whisper. "Katherine Argent."

Peter gave a terrible roar, backhanding Derek before storming off. Laura stared at Derek, wrapped in her husband's embrace, before sobbing her eyes out. Derek didn't cry. He turned around, and saw the Crimson Prince lingering in the smoky recesses near his torched home. The Prince's amber eyes were dark. He raised his hand, spoke words Derek didn't hear. Derek was full of anger, full of fury at himself and grief for his broken family. He unsheathed his dagger, flinging it at the Crimson Prince. The Prince dodged effortlessly, nodding once more, before departing in the smoke.

Derek had never felt more alone. His mother would never give predictions, his father would never cook again, his brother wouldn't regale them with tales of a civil army life, and the twins wouldn't giggle as they swindled Peter into feeding them treats. He was alone: Laura couldn't look him in the eye, and Peter had just about lost his mind. He had swiftly and violently dispatched Katherine Argent, when he found her a month later. Gerard, Duke of Chasseur, demanded legal retribution, until the Red Queen sent an intermediary who was, quote, _close to my throne,_ unquote. She sent the Crimson Prince to wrangle closure.

"Come now," he said to the people present. Laura, Marquisette of Loup, Derek, Peter; Gerard, his son Christopher, and Christopher's daughter, Allison. (Allison Argent, Derek remembered, was called the Daffodil of the Court, and it was speculated that perhaps she would make a fitting wife to the Crimson Prince. However, it was whispered in the shadows of the court that maybe the Prince would _never_ call for a wife, because it was darkly amusing that not a _one_ woman stepped forward, claiming to carry his child.)

"Let us not bicker like infants. There has been senseless shedding of Hale blood on the Argent's part, but one life has been lost by the Argents—one life that took the Hales'. Is this not equivalent enough, Gerard? In fact, if they so desired, they could call for _more_ death. But they haven't. They wish for this bloodshed to be concluded and forgiven."

"Grandpapa," Allison said softly. "Listen to Prince Eoforwine." Derek turned to the Prince. _Eoforwine?_ The Crimson Prince winced.

"Thank you, my Lady Allison, for reminding everyone of my magnificent name. Now. Do you agree to their terms?" He fiddled with a gold button upon his dark maroon lapel, looking at Derek from under his thick lashes. "There is only one option if you refuse."

Peter growled, "Accept it and we needn't let this become a feud." Derek watched his uncle. He was functioning accordingly, but there wasn't a sign of human emotion beyond anger. No love for his remaining family—not even for Laura. "But if you wish it to be, I will gladly kill you and your strumpet of a granddaughter too." He grinned, one devoid of joy, just a pulling back of the lips and letting his teeth gleam.

Allison whimpered. Laura chastised, "Uncle Peter!" The Crimson Prince—Eoforwine, Derek thought, taunting him inwardly—watched with a practiced eye. Gerard shouted, "Fine! I will not forget this!" and stormed out of the room. Christopher watched his father go.

"I am sorry for my sister, Katherine's, actions," he said to Derek. "I understand what she did. The reciprocation was called for, yet there is still bad blood between us. I regret this immensely. I take my leave, Prince," he inclined to Eoforwine, bowing as he backed out of the room. Peter and Laura looked at Derek, then at the Prince, who shook his head. Peter barely tilted his body towards the Prince before stalking out, but Laura bowed graciously and fully before leaving. Derek watched them go.

"Allison," Eoforwine grinned. "Where's Scotty at?" His face was... nice when smiling, Derek noted, then was overcome by rage for noticing. "Burrowing himself in your blouses?" He winked at Allison, but Derek didn't. Katherine's niece, Katherine's relative, fire and brimstone and the ashes would linger on her name.

"Yes," she smiled. "No, but he's listening in. Scott! Dearest Scott!" she called. A tousled boy with a dark complexion stumbled into the room from behind a banner. She and the boy—Scott—moved towards each simultaneously. "My dear," she said. "Oh, introduce your pet name, Prince, to him," she said as an afterthought.

"Stiles," the Prince said. "I'm called Stiles. Because Scott couldn't say _Eoforwine,_ and decided that Eoforwine was much too 'stylish' to try and learn. It just went to hell from there. Stylish went to Styles, then to Stiles, and the whole world burns, right Scotty boy?" He grinned at Derek, and all Derek could think was _this boy is not true; he is a figment of my distraught mind, no one this deep in Court can be this innocent and joyful.  
  
_ "Now," _Stiles_ said. "Let's see. You're a courtier to your uncle, right, Mr. Hale? Sir Hale? Which do you choose? Mr. Hale seems more your type" He grinned once more, and there was a resounding fury at the familiarity that he addressed Derek.  
  
"Shut up. I'm no one. I'm the man who's killed his family. Get the hell away from me," he hissed, then stormed off, feeling like Peter as Allison gasped and Scott exclaimed, "Hey! Hey, asshole! This is the Prince!"  
  
"No," he heard Stiles mutter. "I'm not the Prince right now." Derek slept in a filthy inn that night, his dreams filled with a grinning Prince, but this time is was him who she burned, Derek tied as he watched flames slowly eat up his body as he screamed. "Please don't!" the Prince sobbed, flames curling around him, flesh blackening, before his words were swallowed by the fire. It was Derek who woke shouting. When he realized _why_ , he slowly silenced himself, then returned to court, watching the Prince (who never looked back, and why should he? Derek swore at him, he's lucky to be _alive)_ only this time as a free man because Peter departed.  
  
Laura let him back into her life slowly. She would tease him about his job, looking at girls—oh, why wasn't Derek married? Couldn't get a girl? _(No, don't want one.)_ She grinned, because she knew that Derek had more girls infatuated with his handsome face, sighing from a distance. When Derek let it slip that he was confused about why he didn't die at the hand of the Crimson Prince—Stiles—she just shook her head.  
  
"Derek, he's smart, and I think he cares. I saw him at the fire. He was watching. I heard he was the one who sent the royal water-handlers. He tried to save them." She looked at him. "Perhaps he likes you. As a friend. God knows why."  
  
He found out _why_ again Peter left a year later, when Laura and John Gibbons, Marquisette and Marquis of Loup, were murdered. Derek was now the Marquis, but he felt empty. Laura was dead, Peter had killed her; Stiles, the Crimson Prince, hated him (Laura had to be wrong), and he never could do a damn thing right. He killed his family, drove Peter insane, killed _Laura_ indirectly, and by sheer luck, avoiding being killed by the Red Queen's one joy in life: Eoforwine, Crimson Prince extraordinaire.  
  
He just had to kill Peter for killing Laura, and when he found Peter, hiding out in a small castle on the edge of Loup, he asked why. Why did he kill his only living niece? Peter answered, grinning crazily, "She forgave them, Derek, and she worked with them. She couldn't hold onto the anger, and you need that to survive." He didn't fight as Derek surged towards him, just continued, "Derek, my nephew, perhaps one day your anger will leave you. By that time, I hope you've killed all of those who killed them. And then kill yourself, for you did too."  
  
Derek was disgustedly pleased at how well he bled.  
  
*  
  
"Yes, yes, Scott, my _god_ you know I remember," a familiar voice groaned as Derek stalked down the Court's hallways. "I just have to tell Birdie that I plan to keep him out of trouble. You know she'll just pat me on the head. I love Birdie, but sometimes I want a _challenge_. It's difficult to fight when no one is fighting _back_. And there's no reason for him to die. Gerard can try, but I won't let that man die. _Yes, Scott,_ Jesus, I remember."  
  
"Stiles," Scott whined. "He's an asshole and he deserves to die for killing his uncle and sister."  
  
"I didn't kill her," Derek snarled, appearing from the shadows and pinning him against the wall as the Crimson Prince gawked. "If I had, why would I kill Peter? I killed him because _he..._ killed..." He trailed off, letting Scott go who gasped. "And you!" he growled, glaring at Stiles. " _You._ I am not a _challenge._ Just let me be."  
  
"Oh my codpiece!" Stiles exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "I _never_ said you're a challenge! The challenge I was speaking of was the damn _Court!_ Not you! You, Mr. Hale, you're just that ass, according to Scott, who needs some help and some _humanity_ , according to me, and I'm willing to give both of those. I don't think the ass part can be helped, do you? But I have to go! Scott, go drool over Allison or something!" He grinned at Derek, before scampering off, too fluid for a man of his young age.  
  
Derek stared at Scott, who whimpered and fled frantically. _You just need some help and some humanity. I'm willing to give those._ He banged his head against the wall. _Damned Prince with the pretty honey eyes and the words that make you want to crawl into his skin and live._  
  
 _Laura, would you laugh if I told you how crazy he drives me, how aggravating? You would, I bet, and you would tease me. Call me Bear-Bear, and make me listen to your god-awful violin. And then give me insane advice that I don't need._  
  
 _God, I miss that._ "Miss you too," he muttered to the silent hallway, then went walking towards his room, to sleep again.

**Author's Note:**

> http://aroseindecember.tumblr.com/ That's my Tumblr, so check it if you'd like.
> 
> I have more if that'd be liked. 
> 
> Comments are love, kudos are great. Thank you all darlings.


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